The Wright Brothers

Here is another excellent film all about the Wright Brothers. Check it out. It even includes a new recreation of the original Wright Flyer.

The History of Flight

Take a look at this Grade 3.

The Lawn Mower

Today in class the Grade 3 learned about writing in their own words. This paragraph came from Enchanted Learning.com. It is been pasted here to show the original source:

LAWN MOWERThe first lawn mower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding. Budding (1795-1846) was an engineer from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. His reel mower was a set of blades set in a cylinder on two wheels. When you push the lawn mower, the cylinder rotates, and the blades cut the grass. Budding patented his lawn mower on August 31, 1830. Before his invention, a scythe was used (or sheep or other grazing animals were allowed to graze on the grass). The first reel lawn mower patent in the US (January 12, 1868) was granted to Amariah M. Hills, who formed the Archimedean Lawn Mower Co.

As a class we wrote this:

Edwin Budding invented the first lawn mower. He came from England. The lawn mower was inspired by a sheep. The lawn mower was invented in 1830.

Enchanted Learning (2007) http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/indexl.shtml

All students will need to use the following guide when they are researching about inventions:

1. The name of the invention
2. Who invented it?
3. What inspired the invention?
4. How does it work?

My question for Grade 3 is 'How does the lawn mower work?'.

Inspired by Nature

Our Inventions - Nature

Grade 3, You can choose three inventions to study from this list. You will need to make a presentation about them using PowerPoint. The presentations will be due next week. We will write the rubric in class in our next UOI lesson.

Camera (lens, focus, iris, film) - Eye (cornea curves to focus, iris, retina)
Microphone - Ear drum
Amphitheatre shape - Outer ear shape
Pump - Heart
Valves - Heart valves
Plumbing and hydraulic systems - Circulatory system
Communication / telephone cables - Spinal cord / nervous system
Ball joint- Shoulder joint
Windshield wiper - Eye lid
Wiper fluid - Tears
Knife - Incisor teeth
Mortar and pestle - Molar teeth
Woodwinds - Voice box
Computer / Electronic circuitry - Brain
Computer program - DNA
Bubble level - Inner ear tubes for balance
Construction crane (jointed arm, scoop) - Arm and hand
Honeycomb reinforcements - Bee's honeycomb
Solar panel (energy from light) - Leaf
Fish hook (reverse barb design) - Bee stinger
Light stick (light from chemical reactions) - Firefly
Airplanes (airfoil wings, hollow struts, tail) - Birds (airfoil wings, hollow bones, tail)
Submarine ballast - Fish (ballast bladder)
Sonar - Bats, dolphins
Paper from wood pulp - Wasp hives
Velcro - Thistle burrs (actually inspired Velcro)
Blu-blocker sunglasses - Orange oil in eagle eyes to improve acuity
Suction cups - Octopus
Inboard propulsion (boats) - Squid
Batteries (electricity from chemicals) - Eel
Navigation by stars / magnetic fields - Bird and butterfly migration
Music - Song birds
Anesthetics - Venoms and poisons
Swim fins, paddles - Webbed feet (frogs, ducks)
Water cooled systems - Sweat glands and perspiration
Core aeration for health of lawns - Worms, insects and moles
Hypodermic syringe - Snake fangs, also mechanism used by viruses to inject into cells
Antibiotic medicines - Immune system
Hydraulic shock absorbers - Knee joints
Dust filter - Nostril hairs
VCR, magnetic storage media - Memory, recording/viewing images
Gyroscope, top - Planetary rotation
Magnets - Lodestone
Internet - Brain, also Society
Mirror - Reflection on water
Wheel - Animals that curl and roll (armadillo)
Barb wire fences - Briar bushes, thorns
Bridge supports and weight distribution - Elephant / Dinosaur skeletal framework
Robots - Humans
Nuclear energy or bomb (fusion) / Lamp - Sun
Electric and propulsion motors - Mechanical components of flagellum of bacteria & protozoan
Theme Parks - Nature / State Parks
Helicopter - Bumblebee / Hummingbird / Maple seed pods
Camouflage clothing - Camouflage skin and fur, chameleons
Armor - Exoskeletons
Movies, cast, film crew, director - Life, people, angels, subconscious
Night lights / street lights
The stars and the moon
Baby formula - Breast milk
Pulleys, fulcrums, and levers - Foot joints and ligaments
Smoke detectors - Noses
Cup - Cupped hands
Fishing net - Spider's web
Magnifying glass - Droplet of water
Snowshoes - Penguin's feet
Beaver dams - Water dams
Dreams - Movies
Circular appearance of sun and moon - Wheel
Pliers, tongs - Lobster/crab claws
Hang gliders - Butterflies

Our New UOI

Our new UOI is all about how nature has inspired inventions. Here is a link to a site all about inventors http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/inventor/main.htm
You can read all about 19 famous inventors there.
Here is another page featuring Da Vinci's inventions. http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeosMysteriousMachinery.html